Each year, tens of thousands of students, dressed in their best business attire, participate in one of CFA Institute’s most popular events: the Research Challenge. They present their company evaluations, and the best will meet to do battle in the boardrooms of Omaha or Kuala Lumpur, with judges to choose a winner.

But another kind of research challenge exists within the walls of CFA Institute. This challenge doesn’t involve students, fine attire, or presentations—rather, it is a challenge of relevance, and it exists within the walls of  CFA Institute Research Foundation (RF).

Since 1965, the RF has published practitioner-focused content for CFA members and other global investment professionals. Currently, the RF publishes three types of materials:

1. Monographs:   These books, usually  80 to 160 pages in length, examine various relevant topics in depth. On average, the  RF publishes three to four monographs  per year, and publishes them in both hard  copy and electronic formats. Popular monographs usually receive between 40,000 and 100,000 downloads within  the first few years of publication.

2. Literature Reviews:   Shorter content pieces, typically 20 to 80 pages, these publications feature a review of a specific topic and include an annotated bibliography to enable readers to pursue additional research. All literature reviews are distributed electronically, while some are also distributed in hard copy. The RF publishes one to two literature reviews a year. Popular literature reviews usually receive between 20,000 and 80,000 downloads in the first few years after their publication.

3. RF Briefs:  These are short papers, roughly 10 to 30 pages long, meant to provide easy-to-consume content of global and regional interest. All RF Briefs are distributed electronically, but copies of some briefs are also distributed in hard copy. Currently, the  RF targets publishing five to eight briefs a year. RF Briefs were first published in 2015 and, so far, our two most popular ones have received downloads of more than 50,000  and more than 35,000.

All of the publications mentioned are downloadable for free from the RF website. They’re also available electronically for free or at low cost from platforms such as Amazon, Apple, Google, and Savvy Investor. The RF also publishes an annual Research Foundation Review, which features summaries of all content published during the year.

The RF provides the Review and all hard copies of RF content available to Societies, free of charge, making it possible for materials to be handed out at events or used for outreach activities to attract new members from business and university communities.

Topics and authors for the Review are chosen by the RF from a variety of sources, including suggestions made by our trustees, RF research director Larry Siegel, and the Regional Research Council, which is composed of members from Societies, academics, and CFA Institute employees. The RF also receives unsolicited proposals from companies, academics not on the board, and other sources. All proposed ideas, authors, and submissions are then evaluated by Siegel, and then presented to the RF Research Committee for review and a final decision on whether or not to publish the work.

Monograph authors are usually given one year to complete and submit their manuscripts, and final publication generally happens about six months after the delivery of the final draft. Currently, the RF has two years’ worth of approved monograph projects in the pipeline. Authors of literature reviews and RF Briefs are generally given three to six months to complete and submit their work, with publication two to four months after draft submission. The pipeline for this content is much shorter than for monographs.

Given the length of time devoted to the authoring and publication process, the RF prefers to publish content that will have a long shelf life. RF content from three or five years ago is still quite relevant—I, myself, recently received a translation request for something the RF published in 1977. That’s a long shelf life!

One of the biggest publishing challenges the RF faces is in reflecting and meeting the diversity of our target audience. The needs of a 55-year-old private wealth advisor in Seattle or Lucerne differ substantially from those of a 25-year-old entry-level portfolio manager in Shanghai or Lagos— consequently, the RF doesn’t strive to have every investment professional read every piece of our content. Instead, we strive to have every piece of RF content to be of such high quality that readers will find value in the content relevant to them. In other words, if you choose to read it, you’ll get value from it. In that way, the RF can best serve global investment professionals in a world of innumerable content choices.

The RF is excited about the upcoming initiatives surrounding Society 2.0. Currently, it is building out its RF Author Speaking program to other Societies, as well as ramping up learning modules based on RF content to assist individuals in completing their goals for continuing professional development. We’re also working on content translations to help make our materials more accessible to non-English speakers. Furthermore, work continues on a “special project” that we hope will come to fruition during the next few years.

This is the nature of the other research challenge at CFA Institute. It’s a challenge that the RF faces each time it releases a publication, and it’s your comments and suggestions that will help us to meet this challenge. We hope you take advantage of the wealth of free content and hard-copy books we make available, thanks to the generous support of CFA Institute and the 10,000-plus members who donate to the RF.